The first Taiwanese patient to be hospitalized with H7N9 avian influenza has recovered and was discharged after 35 days in hospital, National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) said at a press conference yesterday.
The imported infection is the only instance of H7N9 avian flu reported so far outside of China, where 130 confirmed cases causing 36 deaths have been reported to date, the hospital said.
“The patient, Mr Lee, developed symptoms of fever, night sweats and fatigue, but did not suffer respiratory tract or gastrointestinal problems, a few days after returning from China on April 9,” NTUH deputy superintendent Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳) said.
Photo: David Chang, EPA
“On April 16 he had a temperature of 40oC and was hospitalized and treated with Tamiflu [at Taipei Medical University Hospital],” Chang added.
“On the night of April 19 the patient started to experience shortness of breath,” Chang said.
“The next day a chest X-ray showed he had pulmonary infiltrates in both of his lungs and he was immediately referred to NTUH, where he was treated with a double dose of Tamiflu, intubated for respiratory failure and quarantined in a negative-pressure room,” Chang added.
The patient then received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment on April 22 due to the deterioration of his breathing and was given an intravenous injection of peramivir on April 24, the hospital said.
Lai Hong-shiee (賴鴻緒), director of the hospital’s surgery department that was responsible for the ECMO treatment, said that similar to SARS, H7N9 can cause a “cytokine storm,” in which immune cells signaled by cytokine to fight invading pathogens go out of control and overreact.
“A cytokine storm occurred in the patient and anti-cytokine drugs were administered,” Chang said, while emphasizing that as this is the nation’s only reported H7N9 infection, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that anti-cytokine therapy was key to Lee’s recovery.
As a result, no standard operating procedure for the treatment of H7N9 has yet been established, Chang said.
Despite once being in critical condition and requiring dialysis, the patient was taken off ECMO on May 2, was decannulated and taken off a ventilator on May 7, and was transferred to a general ward two days later, NTUH said.
The hospital again confirmed that two throat swabs collected before the patient was sent to NTUH tested negative for the H7N9 virus, and it was not until an endotracheal aspirate was collected during intubation that the H7N9 infection was confirmed, first by NTUH medical technologists, and later by the Centers for Disease Control.
Lee, who was also present at the press conference, expressed his appreciation to medical staff and to his family for their support, and apologized “for having caused a scare due to my lack of care that led to the infection.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, Taiwan’s representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) yesterday expressed his appreciation to the US for helping Taiwan in its efforts to produce a vaccine against human infection by the H7N9 virus.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) promised last month to share its results in developing a H7N9 vaccine with Taiwan.
In line with that commitment, a H7N9 master donor virus provided by the CDC was delivered to Taiwan recently, King said.
The cooperative effort was part of the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework under the WHO.
King said such cooperation is helpful in expanding Taiwan’s participation in the operations of the WHO.
Earlier this month, King visited Nils Daulaire, assistant secretary for global affairs at the US Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss the possibility of future bilateral and multilateral cooperation, with a view to expanding Taiwan’s involvement in the global disease control and prevention network.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS